Who We Are

Some Personal Stories…

A World of Artisan Cheeses, Cheese Pairings and Gifts for the Cheese Lovers

At Cheese Companion, our vision is to be the place where cheese lovers come to, when they want to find a special gift for someone who loves cheese. Check out our series of articles titled “Gifts for the cheese lover”. We’re sure you’ll find the right gift for you, your friends and your family.

We also love to promote (and sell) the cheese of local Vermont artisan They make some wonderful cheeses, as proven by all the awards they win around the world!

Finally, we have created our own line of low-sugar fruit conserves, cheese pairings especially created to enhance cheese – a great addition to a cheese plate. Check out our articles on cheese pairings for suggestions.

Our Story

What gave us the idea to launch Cheese Companions®?

We love cheese, and Vermont cheese in particular. I grew up in France and a few years ago started noticing a few French products sold as cheese pairings. So I decided it would be a fantastic idea to develop a line of Cheese Companions®, especially created for cheese. It is hard not to notice the explosion of interest for specialty foods products in the US right now, and there was not really anyone making specialized cheese pairings like ours. Plus Vermont (with all its great cheesemakers) is the perfect place for a company like ours!

How did we develop recipes for our Cheese Companions®?

For more than 6 months, we did not even get to the kitchen to try to make preserves. My husband and I bought every jam for cheese that we could find in France, Quebec or the USA, and did a lot of tasting with various cheeses! That’s how we came to learn what worked the best with each cheese. Then, we finally moved to the kitchen. We strongly believe that jam is too sweet for cheese pairings, so we developed unique flavors with less sugar and lots of fruit, some acidity to balance the fat of the cheese, and a nice blend of spices.

Our Cheese Companions

Vermont Artisan Creations

As we said, we firmly believe that jam is too sweet for cheese pairings, so we developed unique flavors with lots of fruit, lemon juice – providing some acidity to balance the fat of the cheese – and a nice blend of spices. All of our recipes are inspired by award-winning French preserves, with intriguing flavors such as dried fruits conserve, cherry thyme, pear ginger and blueberry chocolate.

More importantly, we have carefully tested our Cheese Companions® with a variety of Vermont cheeses (and other cheeses), to find the best pairings and guide you in your choices. Check these articles for cheese pairing suggestions.

Locally-Grown Fruits Whenever Possible

Unfortunately, we cannot always find the fruits we need locally. But we strive to use locally-grown fruits as much as possible. The apples, sour cherries and wild blueberries we use are all from Vermont or neighboring states!

A Quest for Superior Spices

Chocolate, ginger, thyme, black pepper, vanilla… and more — these are all the spices that make our Cheese Companions® special. But finding the perfect spice takes time and dedication. We’ve gone out of our way to find them, to make sure that you’re getting the best flavors you’ve learned to love.

Our European Raw Honeys

Serving honey with cheese is an old tradition in Mediterranean countries like Spain, Italy or Greece. Ask any of your Italian friends, they’ll tell you! That is the reason why we now import unique raw honeys, all highly aromatic, from Spain and Greece.

Orange blossom honey, an ideal pairing for fresh and mild cheeses, such as ricotta, feta, mild cheddar or goat cheese. Imported from the region of Valencia, Spain. It is a spring honey: in that season, bees produce this light, golden and highly aromatic honey with nectar gathered from the blossoms of orange groves, hence its citrus notes.

Wild thyme and flowers honey, an ideal pairing for creamy cheeses, such as brie, ricotta, cottage cheese, camembert, or goat cheese. Imported from the island of Evia, Greece, famous for its honeys, and from Crete. Bees produce this amber and highly aromatic honey with nectar gathered from wild thyme and surrounding wild flowers.

Chestnut honey, an ideal pairing for sharp and aged cheeses, such as comte, cheddar, blue, parmigiano or aged goat cheese. Imported from the island of Evia, Greece, famous for its honeys, and from Crete. Bees produce this woody, mildly sweet and highly aromatic honey with nectar gathered from chestnut trees in bloom.

We purchased an Original Trio and a Classic Trio just before this past Christmas. We absolutely loved everything that we tried over the holidays. Everyone we shared these different Cheese Companions with said that they were amazing. More fruit and less sugar than anything like this we have every tried!

I love blue cheese so the pear ginger was a match made in heaven. We've been mixing and matching different cheeses and cheese companions, and everything we've tried has been a real taste treat.
Can't wait to try the honey trio gift box.

The perfect trio to accompany cheeses and tastes of each.
The flavors blend well with the various cheese styles.
It's also a nice gift idea and a great choice for a potluck dinner.
My favorite: blue cheese and Pear Ginger, simply delicious!
It's happiness in the mouth!

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